The present invention relates to the technical field of information systems in general which allow an exchange of information between a user and a data base or a network; in particular this system can be correlated to the fitness or wellness sector and integrated with exercise machines for training, re-educating and maintaining the well-being of the body.
Exercise machines of more modem and advanced conception, both professional and amateur-oriented, are designed in such a way as to allow the user to plan his/her physical activities in relation with his/her own personal characteristics and requirements.
For this purpose machines are known which, although conceived for a general employment able to meet the diversified demands of a plurality of users, can then be pre-set on each occasion as a function of each individual user and of the workout plan the user actually intends to follow. A personalized management system for this type of machined is, for instance, already known from the patent IT-1.274.053 in the name of the same Applicant.
The present invention more particularly relates to a telecommunication system which extends beyond the physical borders of a gym or of a physical education venue in general, and has the fundamental aim of allowing a further advancement of the individual management of physical activities and a more advanced and accurate personalization so as to take into consideration the person""s actual physiological conditions, enabling to take into account also a series of other parameters such as those concerning his/her nutrition and those concerning the energy consumption linked with that person""s actual daily lifestyle.
According to the invention this aim is achieved by a telecommunication system for exchanging information concerning physiological state parameters between a physical person and an information system, comprising measuring means for measuring physiological parameters directly from the physical person; and processing means interconnected with the measuring means and with the information system to transmit to the information system at least input signals corresponding to the acquired physical parameters and to transmit to the physical person output information corresponding with those received in return from the information system.
The invention allows the quantification and the scientifically planned graduation of the workload as a function of the measurement and processing of a set of physiological parameters which are significant for representing the physical condition of the user and whose control allows in the first place to monitor the reaching of reference or target thresholds of each individual users.
If the system comprises a terminal that allows the user to interface with the processing means, to enter personal and specific data therein, the user""s activity can also be planned as a function of other information wherefrom it is possible, for instance, to deduce: the energetic content stored with daily nutrition or referable to a different time interval; and/or the portion of energy content dissipated through the user""s work activity. All this to allow to manage the user""s physical activity on the exercise machine in a personalized, rational manner as a function of a realistic energy budget. Similarly with regard to the management of diets, nutrition, linked to the aforesaid physical activities or otherwise.
The terminal can allow the user to connect also to the information system both locally and remotely. It can be connected to the information system by means of a fixed physical network; or, if the terminal comprises for instance a radiotelephone, it can allow the wireless exchange of information between the user and the information system. In either case the exchange of information is easy, immediate and possible on a global and planetary scale.
Providing the terminal with appropriate interface means, such as a board with miniaturized circuitry, in addition to the acquisition of information from the information system it is also possible to store signals which can allow to query the data base or the network or to configure in a personalized and automated manner the exercise machines of the gym normally attended by the user or any other gym he/she may desire to access, for instance when staying in a location more or less distant from his/her habitual residence.
Naturally, the aforesaid personalization of the configuration of the machines is not limited to exercise machines, but can be extended also to electrical appliances or to machines finding more general employment whose functionalities allow, for instance, to interact in the broadest sense of the term with the physical well-being of the user and/or with his/her energy exchanges with the surrounding environment.
If the system according to the invention is provided with suitable communication software constituted for instance by a standard operating system such as Windows(copyright)CE, the telecommunication system according to the invention can advantageously interconnect with local area networks such as intranets or with the global network, the Internet, and dialogue with data bases, with processing centers or intelligent software systems able to manage incoming and output information about person""s physical condition, physical activities and/or medical scientific information connectable thereto.
To assure on the one hand the confidentiality of the data and on the other the security of a specific personalization, the system can advantageously be equipped also with means for recognizing the person embodied for instance by means of a fingerprint reader or a retinal image reader.